L'adolescente

A Real Young Girl (1976)

*** (out of 4)

Fourteen year old Alice (Charlotte Alexandra) is on summer vacation when she starts to experiment with her sexuality. Most of this has her doing things to herself but soon she starts to lust after an older guy. This was made in 1975 but the producer's were so shocked that they kept it on the shelf until 2001, after director Catherine Breillat's Fat Girl became such a hit. I enjoyed Fat Girl a lot more but this film here was pretty good, although the strong sexual content and nudity will certainly make most shy away from it. The way the director explores women's sexuality is brave to say the least.

Catherine Breillat has gained, over the years, a reputation as a particularly provocative female writer - director, and she certainly lives up to that description right from this 1976 film, her directorial debut. Although there is nothing really new here thematically, what makes "Une Vraie Jeune Fille" unlike probably any other coming-of-age film up to that time is Breillat's almost microbiological obsession with touchable things and bodily fluids, including flies, eggs, trees, wax, blood, vomit....and others you can imagine. Charlotte Alexandra is voluptuous and sensual in the title role, but after a while the lack of script becomes painfully evident. ** out of 4.

This is Catherine Breillat's directorial debut. She also wrote the screenplay from her novel published the year before.

One may be initially confused about the fact that it was made in 1976, but not released until over 20 years later. No, it is not a video nasty, but it was banned in France and only when films like Salo or Boise Moi got released, were we able to see this film.

Breillat is not for everybody. The sex in her films is in-your-face. You have to look at them with an open mind. They have an artistic value and should be seen for that.

The film, about a 14-year-old's self discovery stars voluptuous Charlotte Alexandra, who would later appear in Emmanuelle 3. She explores her body with the boredom and recklessness of a teen, and wonders about the studs that she comes into contact with. She fantasizes at times, even about her own father. It was just too frank for the censors at the time.

This is not for the trench-coat crowd, as there is no sex, although her father (Bruno Balp) sure acts as if he would be willing. His smiles and touches are most unfatherly.

The ending was both funny and sad.

"A Real Young Girl" is a slice-of-summer-life flick which follows a 17ish school girl's sexual exploration during a summer vacation with her parents on their farm. A brave and visceral character study, this first outing for controversial auteur Catherine Breillat spends 90% of the run examining the fantasies, autoerotic experimentation, and eventual heterosexual encounters of the girl who seems sexually fascinated with all things liquid. Though the film's darkish undercurrents of sexual aberration do portend better things to come from Breillat, it is not particularly interesting as a stand alone piece. Circa 1976 with no apparent remastering, the audio/video quality is poor with color shifts and graininess. Not for those squeamish about graphic sexual content, this film should play best with those interested in psychosexual dramas (B-)

This film is rather difficult to review because it doesn't really have a plot to speak of, and it's clear that director Catherine Breillat was more keen on focusing on the art elements and detailing the sexual developments of a young girl than telling a story. This is the first film I've seen from Catherine Breillat, but given what I've read about her; it would seem that she enjoys directing films that focus on sexuality, and that would seem to be the case if this film is anything to go by. A Real Young Girl focuses on Alice Bonnard, a 'well developed' teenager who attends a boarding school and is spending the summer at her parents' house. She enjoys experimenting, and has a particular fascination with fluids, as she experiments with all sorts including urine and ear wax, as well as egg yolk and tanning cream. She becomes fixated on a man employed by her father, as well as a couple of other local men and her father, and the film basically follows her summer as things happen to her parents and she develops sexually.

Unlike most exploitation films, this one takes place from the woman's point of view, although the idea that all men are sex-obsessed perverts certainly shines through, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Catherine Breillat is a devout feminist, as there isn't one single decent male character in the whole film. The film rests a lot on its star Charlotte Alexandra, and she doesn't disappoint. Her performance is thoroughly realistic, and she also looks rather tasty, which is sure to delight the male viewers. I have to admit that I was expecting to be shocked going into the film, and while A Real Young Girl is liable to offend less well versed viewers; it would seem I've seen too much of this stuff as nothing in the film seemed too over the top to me. Catherine Breillat clearly isn't afraid to shock the viewers, however, as the film features plenty of nudity and other perverse scenes. The film features no suspense and the plot really just plods along, but it's well paced and while you know that the ending isn't going to provide much intrigue, it doesn't matter as anyone looking for a sexually charged film is likely to be satisfied.